Anemone Movie Review

“Anemone” is grim and glum picture of self-isolation. Yet the picture is beautiful and magnificent, and the picture is moved by some incredible acting. The award-winning talent is given a canvas that is barely holding up. It is like putting a finely tuned Ferrari engine into a Volkswagen Beetle. It is ready to race but runs more like the tortoise than the rabbit.

Ray Stoker (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) has lived a lonely life for the past twenty years. After serving the British military, he was discharged — but under a cloud of scandal. His wife, Nessa Stoker (played by Samantha Morton), was pregnant with their son. But Ray never came home. Instead, he headed to a very remote part of Northern England. There was no contact with his family for those long years.

Ray has a brother, Jem (played by Sean Bean), and he acted as a surrogate father to Ray and Nessa’s boy. Brian Stoker (played by Samuel Bottomley) has struggled with personality issues and depression. Part of this was caused by not having his real father around. Ray had been accused of some nasty crimes when he fought the Irish Republican Army, all those years ago. Ray has a reputation that caused Brian to get very physically violent.

Jem takes it upon himself to make a long trip on a motorcycle to locate Ray. He finds Ray with some geo-caching type coordinates. Ray is not used to visitors, obviously. They each barely acknowledge each other. But Ray warms up to his brother. Ray tells a long story of the difficulties he had growing up. First, with his own father. He was a man who would seriously beat Ray for any infraction. And then with a local parish priest, who used Ray as a sexual plaything.

Ray tells a tale of his retribution, revenge and rebuke against that nasty man of the cloth. When he was in the British Armed Forces, Ray found where that priest was living. He went over with a cover story of collecting for the military honor society. But Ray went in with a hatred for the pervert priest molester.

Ray played a con game to give the guy the wrong idea. But when he got the little old perv down on the ground — Ray had years of built-up hate and quest for revenge as Problem Number One. Ray solved that retribution issue with  a load of Number Two…

Jem looks on in disbelief, and even Ray put a blanket of doubt over the story. Ray needs to know why Jem has come all this way. Ray knows that Nessa wrote him a number of letters while he was in the Army. Nessa even wrote more letters in the past twenty years. Somehow — Ray got these letters. Jem has brought Ray a new letter from Nessa. This time, she is looking for help dealing with Brian, their son.

Ray has no desire to leave his self-imposed solitary confinement. He believes that his actions, back in the military, were deserving of banishment. So, he has created his own prison of isolation. In a far-off creaky cabin in the woods, Ray counts the days as they pass as if he were counting down a prison sentence. Jem has become an unwelcome warden, here to remind him of his guilt.

Brian is home, back from joining the military. He wanted to be like his father and his uncle. Both Ray and Jem had served, and Brian thinks it is good to continue this family tradition. But this is a very nontraditional family. Brian’s father, Ray, had left before he was born. Brian’s uncle, Jem, had acted as his adopted father since birth. This family has, as they say, a few issues to work out.

Hattie (played by Safia Oakley-Green) is a close friend of Brian. She comes over to try and cheer him up. But Brian has this dark cloud of depression over him. Part of it was caused by Ray being gone for all of his life. Part of it is the rumors that Ray had been involved with ‘war crimes’ back in the day. All of this boiled up in Brian and he went wild beating some guy. Now Brian could be a real trouble.

Ray and Jem are at an uneasy peace at the cabin. It is within walking distance of some rivers, the ocean and even a small town. Ray can go over to get supplies that he might need. Jem and Ray are able to spend some time together, and they work out a lot of personal issues. Out at the beach one night, Ray opens up to Jem. He talks about the incident that caused him to go into hiding. He relates a story of undercover soldiers going after IRA bomb-makers. There are disastrous results.

Ray has been at odds with the events of that night for ages. Was it an ‘act of mercy’, or was it ‘war crime’? Would another person do things differently, or should Ray have done things differently? Those reactions Ray had taken afterwards have now affected his entire family for quite a long time. His sentence of self-isolation and self-loathing has ruined more than just his own life.

Ray has a strange vision, or is it a nightmare? Standing in a pond is a mystical, glowing creature. It has a human face and is made out of a translucent material. Ray is stunned and shaken. This might be a sign. Maybe it is Brian, calling out to him.  But the next day, there is a more drastic ‘sign’. Maybe it is a freak of nature, maybe it is an ‘Act of God’.

There is an unusually large and violent storm that moves in. It hits the area were Ray and Jem are located, but also where Nessa and Brian are situated. This storm brings the worst and most sizable hail that has ever been seen. It pummels the cabin in the woods. It tears down some trees and kills some animals. It comes down hard in the town, and it shatters windows and causes major chaos in the streets.

Ray and Jem have spent the past few days getting to know a brother that neither has seen for a quite a while. But the major issue still remains. Ray, with all of his self-doubt and loathing, feels no need to change in his ways. Jem, still a believer in miracles, can see that perhaps something has changed.

The motorcycle that Jem took to get here is still hidden in the nearby woods. Will Ray decide to change his life and make the world’s most uncomfortable Uber trip – back to the real world?

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“Anemone” is a reintroduction to Daniel Day-Lewis into a very comfortable place. His expertise is being up on the screen – portraying a complex and broken man. After a short ‘retirement’, he back in full force with a stunning performance.  Playing at his side is Sean Bean, and that is another man who is no slouch at acting.

Daniel Day-Lewis co-wrote this screenplay with his son — Ronan Day-Lewis. Ronan is also the movie’s director. So this was made a full family affair. However, the slow pacing and the switch between the Ray/Jem story and the Nessa/Brian parts tend to distract from any continuity.

The cinematography with the nature-filled landscapes is sometime breath-taking. The soundtrack is often a bit to ‘modern’ for such as old-fashioned story. The talent in front of the camera is really excellent all around. If not for the pacing, and some script issues – this could become a new classic.

“Anemone” might be a delicate little white flower. But in the sight of a great actor, the blooms are a reflection of small beauties trapped in the tortured soul of a hermit at the edge of reality.